


light in the dark

by orphan_account



Series: i'd trade all my tomorrows for just one yesterday [5]
Category: The Maze Runner (2014), The Maze Runner Series - All Media Types, The Maze Runner Series - James Dashner
Genre: M/M, Post-The Death Cure, The Death Cure Spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-04-11
Updated: 2015-04-11
Packaged: 2018-03-22 07:06:24
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,251
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3719677
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"Why do we have a shucking little girl living with us now?"<br/>"She reminds me of him, okay? She reminds me of him and he would have loved her and she's only seven and doesn't have anyone taking care of her. She's alone. I couldn't help it, okay? If you don't like it you can go move in with Brenda or something."</p>
            </blockquote>





	light in the dark

**Author's Note:**

> This has probably reached the point where if you haven't read the other parts in the series you probably should.

"Minho?" Thomas calls, entering the small house they shared, "Are you - what is she doing here?"  
Minho looks up from the bed he was making. "Hey Tommyboy. You're home early."  
"Brenda wasn't feeling well. And you're not answering my question."  
"Oh. Thomas, meet - what's your name?" Minho asks, turning to look at the girl sitting on the side of his bed, grinning happily.  
"I'm Isabelle," She chirps, giggling slightly.  
"Right. Thomas, this is Isabelle. Isabelle, this is the shank who's taking up all the space in our hut."  
"What?" Thomas asks, his eyes wide with confusion as he looks between the little girl and the third bed that Minho is making up. "She's living with us?"  
"Mhm," Minho agrees, grinning over at Isabelle. "Your bed is done."  
"Minho, can we talk for a minute?" Thomas asks.  
Minho shrugs. "Sure. Isa, do you want to go grab your stuff and bring it back here please?"  
"Okay," She agrees, hurrying out the door.  
Thomas turns to Minho. "Why do we have a shucking little girl living with us now?"  
Minho raises an eyebrow. "Do you have a problem with it?"  
"No. It just doesn't seem like you to adopt a kid. You don't even like kids!"  
"First of all, I'm not adopting her, I'm too young for that. I'm just taking care of her. Second of all, who says I don't like children?"  
"Minho, you scowl every time you see one of them. What's so different about her?"  
Minho sighs. "She reminds me of _him_ , okay?"  
Oh, Thomas thinks, the pieces falling into place. She does remind him about Newt, now that he thinks about it, with her golden hair and dark eyes and sunny personality.  
"She reminds me of him and he would have loved her and she's only seven and doesn't have anyone taking care of her. She's alone. I couldn't help it, okay? If you don't like it you can go move in with Brenda or something."  
Isabelle skips back in the door before Thomas can answer, and he smiles at her as she drops the pile of stuff in her arms onto the bed. "It's good to meet you Isabelle."  
"It's good to meet you too," She says, turning to study him. "Are you Minho's boyfriend?"  
Thomas's eyes widen, his jaw going slack. He vaguely registers Minho choking on the water he was drinking. "No, I'm not. I have a girlfriend."  
"Oh." She says, frowning. She turns to Minho. "Do you have a girlfriend too?"  
"No. I have - had - a boyfriend."  
"What happened to him?"  
"He - he didn't come with me."  
"I'm sorry." Isabelle says, wrapping her arms around Minho in a lopsided hug.  
"It's okay."  He says, smoothing her hair as he smiles down at her. "Come on. We should get you ready for bed."  
"But I'm not tired!" Isabelle protests.  
Minho chuckles. "Too bad. Come on, go get your pajamas on and get in bed."  
"Fine." She says, digging through her things to find a pair of pajamas."  
"Sorry kid. Some of us have to get up early tomorrow."  
"Whatever." She complains. "Will you braid my hair?"  
"What?" Minho asks, bewildered. "Before bed?"  
"So it doesn't get tangled while I sleep. I can't do it myself."  
"Okay," Minho agrees reluctantly, sitting down on the bed and gesturing for her to join him.  
Her hair is surprisingly soft between his fingers and he easily puts it into twin braids, tying the ends with the elastics she hands him. "There," He says triumphantly, surprised at how well the braids turned out. "Now go to bed."  
"Fine." She says, crawling under the covers. "Night Minho. Night Thomas."  
"Goodnight, Isabelle," Thomas calls from his bed.  
"Night, Isa." Minho says, turning off the light and slipping into bed himself, a smile on his face.  
He wakes up screaming four hours later, the way Newt looked when they left him at the Crank Palace still swimming in his vision even as he clamps a hand over his mouth to silence his screams. For once it looks like he hasn't woken Thomas, and he sighs in relief, rolling over and attempting to go back to sleep even though he knows it's no use. His watch says it's 3:34 in the morning, too early for even him and Thomas to go running.  
"Minho?" A quiet voice asks. He rolls over to find Isa looking at him with wide eyes, her arms wrapped tightly around herself in an effort to keep warm.  
"Hey Isa," He says, his voice slightly hoarse. He sits up, patting the spot next to him, and she clambers up, smiling gratefully as he wraps a blanket around their shoulders. "Did I wake you up?"  
She shakes her head. "I was already up. I... couldn't sleep."  
He knows what that means. Nightmares. He's just not sure what to say.  
"Who's Newt?" She asks after a moment, and his heart clenches painfully at the name and the images it brings. "You were... you were calling his name in your sleep."  
"He..." Minho pauses trying to figure out how to explain. "He was my boyfriend. My best friend."  
"Oh." She says softly, no doubt recalling what Minho had said about his boyfriend being gone.  
"You remind me of him, you know." Minho says, surprising himself. "You have his hair and his eyes and when you smile, you look like you could be his shucking sister. And those shucking flowers that I gave you... He did the same thing. He would wear his shucking flower crown until the flowers were wilted and brown and then he'd drag me out to make him another one." The words are spilling out now, he can't stop them. "And his hair was long, almost as long as yours, and when we went running together he'd always have me braid it so it would stay out of his face and he wanted to be strong but sometimes he just needed me to take care of him and I promised him I'd always be there and then we shucking left him behind with those shucking Cranks and he's probably dead now or out of his mind but I don't know because I just left him there!" He's sobbing now, and part of him hates himself for burdening Isa with all this, because she's too young for this, but she looks so much like Newt he can't help but talk to her and he just doesn't know what to do anymore.  
Isa is quiet for several long moments, leaning against Minho. "My dad caught the Flare first," She says quietly, her voice shaking. "I was five. They found him, of course, and they took him to the Crank Palace. They had to test all of us to see if we had it after they took him My older sister had it too. And I was immune. My mom wasn't. She caught the Flare a few years later and they took her away too. They sent me to WICKED so I wouldn't be alone. And I haven't seen anyone in my family since, not since they were taken to the Palace, and I don't know what's happened to them, don't even know if they're dead or alive or if they even remember me and I hate it!" Tears stream down her cheeks, but she smiles up at him despite them. "But they would want me to be happy."  
"Yeah," Minho agrees, thinking of Newt and the happy ending they dreamed of. "They would."

**Author's Note:**

> I'm sorry this was so boring. It was kind of necessary to have Isabelle introduced to Thomas (and learn her name).


End file.
